Photography this week

I thought I would share with you over the next couple of weeks photographs form my trip to Dunedin.  It was a wonderful opportunity to take photographs of snow which was a really new experience for me.

A close up of a catus in the hot houses.  The only places they could grow in Dunedin

The snow falling outside my motel.

The hot houses

Local church

Skechbook challenge: 7 days of drawing

Entry for July 20th

Elements: Line, shap and colour

Entry for July 21st

Elements: Line, shape and colour

Entry for July 22nd

Elements: Line, colour and shape

Entry for July 23rd

Elements: Line clour and shape

Entry for July 24th

Elements: Phone

Entry for July 25th

Elements: Shape and colour

Entry for July 26th

Elements: of patterning

Wonderful break

I have had a wonderful break in Dunedin (bottom of the south island of NZ)  It was very cold with many temperature records broken in many parts of the country.  I spent 3 glorious days on my own sightseeing,  sketching, walking and taking photographs.  Then I was joined by my daughter (a little later than expected due to snowfall blocking the roads) for a tour and trek around the university campus to check out the degree she wants to take and finding accommodation options for next year.  We had a wonderful time.  It made me want to pick up some university papers again  (in my dreams)  It was so nice to only cook and clean for one and to spend time in quiet thought which is a rare commodity in my home.  It is nice to be home though.  Seeing the children and my hubby and doing those family things again.  I have really missed them all.

Going away

I am going away to Dunedin (bottom of NZ) for a few days so I won't be posting anything till next Thursday as I have no acess to the internet.  Hopefully I will have some wonderful photos and some art work completed.   I am all packed, with all my winter woolies as snow is forcasted for Sunday.  (bbrrrrrrr)  My daughter and I will be checking out the university down there as she wants to go and study science research down there next year. Hopefully I can get a little R & R at the same time.

So see you all next week.

Photography this week

This week I have photographs of fire for you.  ENJOY!!

Skechbook challenge: 7 days of drawing

Entry for July 13th

Elements: Line/fish

Entry for July 14th

Elements: Shapes in my home

Entry for July 15th

Elements: Water

Entry for July 16th

Elements: Of design/ Pakistani and Indian textiles

Entry for July 17th

Elements: Line and shape/owl

Entry for July 18th

Elements: Of brooch design/bug

Entry for July 19th

Elements: Line/bird

Quiling projects

I am still merrily working on my Poppy quilt.  The deadline has been and gone thanks to a lovely dose of the flu.  Ah well there will be more shows to enter.  

The top is finished and is waiting to be quilted.  It has been a very challenging quilt to work on.  There were many technical difficulties and design difficulties which I have never faced before. 

Here is some photos of the quilt top.  The poppy is painted. 

The edging is a stamp of barbed wire

The right hand section is photos of all my ancestors who served in wars.

The photos took a long time to manipulate to the right colours and size and then to print onto fabric.  I hoping to stitch crosses all over the photos. 

So today's job is to start the quilting.  (once I have cleaned the studio of course!)

Birthdays

This week in July is my 2 boys birthdays.  They're 7 and 10 years old.  I have no idea where the time has gone.  I made their cakes for their big days and an extra one for their combined party for their grandparents.

Their combined birthday cake......a spooky ghost made with American frosting, egg shells and sultanas.

The cake was a fruit cake made with only 4 ingredients.

Easy fruit cake

1kg mixed fruit (or dried fruit and nuts of you own liking)

2 C of orange juice

2 C of self raising flour

2 t cinnamon

1.  Place fruit in bowl overnight in orange juice.

2.  Stir in remaining ingredients

3.  Pour into greased and lined tin tin and bake for 1 hour and 20 mins at 180C or until skewer comes out clean.

4.  Cool on a rack for 15 before turning out of the tin.

My 7 year olds cake.  He loves babies so this was perfect for him.  This one was a gluten free chocolate cake iced with butter icing.  Yummy!

This cake was my 10 year olds cake.  A lemon Madeira cake....just combine the ingredients and tiff it in a tin.  I love recipes like this one.  So easy.  The cake is covered in almond icing and marzipan and decorated with the boys playmobil men.

Skechbook challenge: 7 days of drawing

Entry for July 6th

Elements: Of Polynesian design

Entry for July 7th

Elements: Of line

Entry for July 8th

Elements: Of Home

Entry for July 9th

Elements: Element of the face-eyes

Entry for July 10th

Elements: Lines at church

Entry for July 11th

Elements: Lines of a tree

Entry for July 12th

Elements: Lines on my rug

Drawing daily

I have been drawing and painting each day for over half a year now.   I have filled in almost 3 books and done over 200 pages.  It has been very hard to keep going on my goal but I am glad I have done it.  I have really improved in my drawing and painting ability.  

These are some of the things I have grown in

• Drawing faster
• Drawing more accurately
• Painting with more depth and ease
• Seeing shadows and highlights easier
• Capturing more likeness of people
• Creating my own style of work
• Seeing more clearly objects around me

By drawing each day my

• Quilt designs have improved
•  Painting on fabric has more depth
• I am painting faster and more accurately on fabric
• My quilting has become more creative

I am looking forward to seeing how much more improvement I will have by the end of the year.  I love to draw each day.  It is wonderful to see life with new eyes and new angles of creativity.

Elements of photos

One good way of photographing larger objects is to take a small portion or part of it.  This is also helpful when collecting information for art work.  A smaller section of something can have a lot of interesting detail and can be a great photo or art inspiration.   There are 2 ways this can be done by zooming in and out on your camera or cropping the photo on a computer.

These following photos are of a shipwreck in the

Nelson area at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. 

End view of wreck

Slightly angled view of wreck

Whole wreck side on.

Cropped photo of detail of the side of the wreck.  Cutting out the sky and the sand changes the focus of this photo.  The rust and shapes made by the elements become more visible and interesting.

Photo of the end of the wreck.  The silhouette of the boat is more in focus. 

I like the light moving through the wreck in this photo.

A slightly different angle of the boat.  I would have Loved to take more different angles but I wasn't able to get onto the wet sand as I kept sinking.

By cropping out  a large proportion of the boat and some of the sky and sand this photo is balanced and shows the detail of the other end of the boat.  This is my favourite photo.

A close up of the rust and shell of the wreck.  This would be great use as inspiration for surface design on fabric.

The 'ribs' of the wreck and what we thought was part of the anchor.

Close up of the front of the boat.

Another view of the front of the wreck.

Seeing things form a different perspective can be very interesting and give more

dimension to the photos that you take.